D’Leh (Strait), a young mammoth hunter, leads an army of tribes to free his people and his Evolet (Belle) in 10,000 B.C., a historically inaccurate adventure. The film doesn’t pretend to be a documentary, but is riddled with anachronisms: the people speak English, use ships for transport, rapid climate changes, dislocated creatures, domesticated mammals, metalwork, pyramids and horse riding. These wild “liberties” render the film inaccurate to the point of science-fiction, and Roland Emmerich (Stargate, Independence Day) may as well have called it Dune.

The film’s main influences are from Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, David Lean’s Laurence of Arabia and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. He doesn’t create the same authenticity of Apocalypto, falls short of Lean’s spatial dynamics and fails to capture the epic heroism of Gladiator. To make matters worse, the cast are weak as an ensemble. Steven Strait delivers a similar performance to Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven, but doesn’t have much support in Camilla Belle and Cliff Curtis.

10,000 B.C. would not have been possible without CGI. The rendition of the mammoths, the aerial shots of the pyramids and some of the landscapes are amazing. However, the film relies too heavily on CGI and gives it a synthetic aftertaste. It would have been far more entertaining if Emmerich had mirrored Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves for location, instead of opting for unreal backdrops. 10,000 B.C. is only original in its attempt to create the first hero, but fails to deliver something unique and fresh.

The movie seems to parallel itself with a number of popular historic epics, and this taints the production. The script is weak, and is merely a distraction from the CGI. D’Leh rallies his troops to war with an interpreter in his “Braveheart” speech, and gains their altruism by telling them he’s not as young as he looks. 10,000 B.C. is just eye candy, and is as captivating as a run through the museum. Let’s be honest, this would have been much more entertaining if Emmerich had set the film on Mars.